Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill (S.2407) into law on Friday protecting against discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The bill was passed earlier in the week by both houses of the state legislature and has been praised as a compromise between anti-discrimination and public safety. The law requires places of public accommodation [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Mohamed Abdelaal of McKinney School of Law and Alexandria School of Law discusses the significance of Egypt’s new cybercrime draft law… On May 10, 2016, the Egyptian House of Representatives began to consider a new 33-article cybercrime draft law where a number of government officials, including representatives from the Defense and Interior [...]
The Gambia and Tanzania announced the end of the practice of child marriage along with prison sentences for those who continue the tradition. Gambian President Yahya Jemmah on Wednesday announced that “s from today, July 6, child marriage is illegal and is banned in The Gambia.” He also announced the penalties from violating the practice [...]
Ten additional states, including Nebraska, Michigan and Ohio, have filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration for its directive for schools to allow transgender to use the restroom correlating to their gender identity. The Obama administration, through the Department of Education (DOE) and Department of Justice (DOJ), previously issued a letter informing states that transgender [...]
In a press conference held Friday in Washington, DC, Attorney General Loretta Lynch gave her response to the shooting of police in Dallas during a peaceful protest of recent police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. Lynch gave her thoughts and condolences to those affected by the recent tragedies and stated that the Department [...]
Congresswoman Corrine Brown and her chief of staff Elias “Ronnie” Simmons were charged in a 24-count indictment unsealed Friday for involvement in a bogus non-profit scholarship entity. Among the charges are multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, theft of government property, concealing materials facts on required financial disclosure forms, and filing false tax returns. [...]
In a 63-30 vote, the US Senate approved legislation Thursday requiring food packaging to display genetically-modified organism (GMO) contents using words, pictures or scannable bar codes. If passed in the House , this law would stand as a national standard for displaying GMO contents and replace all state-based GMO packaging laws, including more stringent laws [...]
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday lifted a ban on women serving in close combat units in British military. In what Cameron called a “major step,” women will now be allowed to serve in cavalry, infantry and armored corps roles in the military, making British armed forces “reflect the society we live in.” Women [...]
In a report issued on Thursday, Amnesty International (AI) called upon Palestinian and Israeli officials to properly address human rights violations committed by their forces. The report was released a day before the second anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, a 50-day military offensive by Israel in Gaza, and features interviews from relatives of those killed, [...]
The Irish Parliament on Thursday defeated a bill that would have allowed abortion in Ireland where the child would not survive outside of the womb. Prime Minister Enda Kenny had been open about his opposition to the bill, calling it “bad for women and medically inadequate,” and instructed his Fine Gael party members to vote [...]
